Colorado Governor: legal pot is ‘working’

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper did not vote for legal cannabis and said in the past that if he could wave a magic wand and make it go away, he would have. But his job was to implement the will of the voters, and after doing so, Gov. Hickenlooper has changed his tune.

With $120 million per year in legal pot taxes funding schools, playgrounds, homeless services and even college scholarships, Gov. Hickenlooper told a Los Angeles audience at the Milken Institute Global Conference that: ““It’s beginning to look like it might work,” the Los Angeles Timesreports.

The fire and brimstone promised by legalization critics have not materialized in the Centennial State since it legalized in 2012. The state has one of the nation’s lowest unemployment rates at 4.2 percent, as well as skyrocketing home values and rents. Google is moving into Boulder, CO.

Marijuana arrests are down 80 percent, yet pot use hasn’t increased in the long-time weed-friendly swing state, said Andrew Freedman, director of marijuana coordination for Colorado.

“I think [Gov. Hickenlooper is] pleasantly surprised that there were not as many challenges as he thought,” Freedman said.

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